PREFACE. 
XI 
people of this our favoured laud, but also the arrivals aud depar- 
tures of the birds, who, iu most cases, travel much further than 
we human beings either do or can. If this were done, a new 
world of pleasurable observation would be opened to thousands. 
I trust, moreover, that this book may induce my fellow- 
countrjmien to learn that in this beautiful world there are many 
other creatures besides themselves, all living and acting with 
the utmost independence of human aid or advice. They do not 
consult mankind as to how, when, or where they shall build tlieir 
nests or make their holes, or how they shall get their daily 
rations ; they do not ask us leave to come, nor do they ask leave 
to go. They know their own business, and obey what we, fur 
want of a better word, call " instinct," the mysteries of which 
remain as yet unsolved by human intelligence. 
I trust that AVliite's oljservatious may have the effect of show- 
ing country proprietors — especially the owners of parks, wood- 
lands, i!kc. — that they have on their properties a class of tenants 
to whose existence and good services their attention has possil)ly 
never been previously directed. They would do well to stop the 
destructive hand of the gamekeepers, who are gradually exter- 
niinatiug all our indigenous fauna, for want of knowledge of the 
way in which the forces of nature are balanced, and the law uf 
eat and be eaten " carried out. White's " Selborne" again will 
show clergymen that they have many parishioners inhabiting the 
woodlands, hedges, and fields, whose welfare they would do well 
not to neglect. There is hardly a parish m England or Wales 
where the clergyman has not opportunities more or less favour- 
able for writing a local " White's Selborne," taking White's 
method of observing and recording as a model for his note- 
book. 
I feel assured that the education of children, both in town and 
country, might greatly be forwarded if they were taught in the 
